Dodge the Bullet
by newsiesgirllaces
Summary: a young girl loses her parents and she feels that she is to blame. she then goes on a search to find her parents shooter. i know, i am REALLY bad at summaries. but i think it's pretty good. this character is part of the KLU by the way :D
1. Chapter 1

**Hope you all enjoy this. Special thanks to Kanae Valentine for beta-ing this :D **

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Chpt.1

You know, I was twelve when it happened. People usually say that you don't remember much when you were younger, but I remember almost every detail. I got home from middle school along with some of my brothers, Kirk, and Justin, who were thirteen year old twins; Collin, who was fourteen; and Chris, who was fifteen. We were talking about… Superman and Batman. They just started to get more well known, and we were talking about which one was better.

"Superman is the best," boasted Chris, and all my other brothers agreed.

"Nu uh! Batman is!" I argued.

"Come on! Can Batman shoot lasers out of his eyes?" inquired Kirk.

"Well…"

"Or pick up buildings a billion times his size?" questioned Collin.

"Well…"

"Or fly?" Justin added. I looked down at my feet.

"Well… the papers said he's a good detective," I tried to counter.

"So what?" laughed Chris. "It's not like he can punch a goon through three buildings."

"Well the papers said…"

"The papers said. The papers said," Kirk mocked in a baby voice imitating me. "Batman's such a coward he hides in the shadows. Hardly anyone knows much about him. Everyone knows about Superman. Batman could be a myth for all we know Sea Shelly," Kirk teased. I hated it when my brothers called me Sea Shelly. It was a name specifically made to belittle me.

"My name is Dodge, and if Batman is a myth then why is there a bat-signal on top of the building of Gotham P.D?"

"Pff. Because…" Collin trialed off when he saw our house. There were Police cars all over, and I could see my two sixteen year old brothers, John and Luke, in the window, and they looked to be crying. in front of them was my eighteen year old brother Mike, who was talking to the cops. As we entered the house an officer looked over at us, then at Mike.

"You should tell your friends that they should come back another time," he stated.

"They're my siblings officer," Mike said very serious, but he seemed to be holding something back. I was confused.

_What's going on? Why are there Police cars everywhere? And why are John and Luke crying? _I guess you could say that I had a good idea what most likely happened that would cause this, but I didn't want to believe it. Of course it was true though.

"Maybe you would like to tell them," the officer prompted, looking at Mike. He sighed, and his sky blue eyes stared at ours.

"There was a shooting and mom and dad…" Mike had to swallow and hold back tears. "Mom and Dad got shot." I shook my head, not believing a word a heard.

"But… but they only got shot in the arm or something right? They're in the hospital now, right? They're getting better in a hospital," I urged, my eyes starting to water. Mike looked down, he couldn't look me in the eyes.

"No Shelly. No. They're gone."

The tears started to course down my cheeks and Mike wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace. "Shhh. It's okay. Everything will be alright." he soothed.

"Excuse me, Sir," the officer interrupted, "we still need to ask you and your family some questions."

"Not all of us are here yet," Justin supplied.

"What do you mean?" the officer questioned.

"We have three more brothers in the elementary school."

The officer sighed, and I couldn't blame him. Eleven kids who have to find out their parents died in one day.

"We'll talk to them when they get here," replied the officer. We followed the officer into the kitchen to answer his questions.

"We believe that your parents were targeted. Any ideas who they were targeted by. Any enemies they had?" a detective questioned. All of us shook our heads. Mom and Dad were nice, kind, patient people. No one ever seemed to hate them. But then I remembered something.

"Well…" I started and I felt the eyes of everyone on me, "there was this one guy…"

My brothers looked at me in confusion.

Our parents owned a produce shop. We sold all types of goods and sometimes the older kids took shifts working at the store. It was during my shift when I noticed something off.

"What about the guy?"

"Well… when I was working in the store once, this guy came up to the desk."

"What did the man look like?" inquired the detective.

"In his thirties. He didn't look like he had shaved in a while. He was white with black hair and brown eyes. He was about as tall as Mike, but sorta lanky. He asked me where my parents were and I told them that they were in the back, and he said that he wanted to see them. Before I went back to get them, I noticed a his hand in his pocket. I made out a gun in there. I went into the back, but didn't get my parents. When I came back out, I told the guy that they must have left. He looked angry and stormed out of the place. I didn't tell my parents what happened. I didn't want them getting freaked out. And I never saw the guy again," I explained. The room was silent.

"Well, at least we have a suspect." sighed the detective, then he turned to my brother, "we'll keep you informed if we find anything."

"Thank you." Mike stated, and the cops left our house.

"Why didn't you tell mom and dad about that man in the first place?" hissed Chris.

"I didn't want to scare them," I murmured.

"Oh! Well they're not scared now. They're dead!" Kirk yelled at me. Mike whacked them both upside the head.

"Knock it off!" he barked, and my two brothers hung their heads low. "It's nobody's fault," he said, trying to take a softer tone. I looked down at my feet.

"No," I sighed.

"What?"

"No. It is my fault."

I was on the verge of crying again when I saw my three little brothers get home from school. Aaron who was nine, Jackson who was seven, and Mark who was five.

"Why does everyone look so sad?" Aaron inquired.

Mike sighed and said, "Mom and dad had an accident today, and they passed away."

This triggered the kids to cry and I went to them to hug and comfort them.

"It's okay. Shhh. Shhh. It's okay."

Grandpa called when he heard the news. He promised that he'd look after us, and that he'd move into our house to our guest room. It was very big to fit eleven kids plus two parents.

Going to bed that night was hard. As I was walking to my room, Chris looked at me with disgust in his eyes and growled, "It is your fault. You killed mom and dad."

Those were the words that echoed through my head as I tried to go to sleep and the same words that would haunt me.

_It's your fault. You killed Mom and Dad._

_**Please tell me what you think so far. i know that it's not completely action packed , but it's the first chapter. :D hope you enjoyed it :D**_

**_L.L.A.P_**

**_~Laces_**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thinks start to pick up here! YAH! Many thanks to Kanae for being my beta :D**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Chpt.2

Grandpa was a nice man. He was my mother's father and had a great sense of humor. He made me laugh, and that's when I realized that laughing made me forget the pain. If I looked on the good side of things, the pain would null for an instant, and I really wanted the pain to go away. So I would tell jokes and make people laugh. The only day I didn't was at the funeral, which I did not enjoy.

It was a sunny day, and was a nice temperature. We put roses on their graves, and Chris was still glaring at me. He hated me ever since what I told the detective and he would make sure that I knew. He would always remind me of something mom or dad did, and said that they would still be here if I didn't kill them. He would also punch me or trip me in the hall way. This didn't go unnoticed though. Mike was a big strong football player who would definably put Chris in his place for misbehaving. Grandpa would catch him beating me up sometimes and also put a stop to it. Grandpa was a strong construction worker with big hands and strong arms. Nobody ever wanted to mess with him either. Chris would always say that Mike was going to go to college and Grandpa wasn't always going to be home for me to rely on.

On the days that both of them were out of the house, Chris did a brutal job on me, and Kirk would join him at times. They also would threaten me about telling. I still tried to keep a positive attitude and keep telling jokes. It made things hurt less, even the beatings that Chris would give me. I was still upset that the man who killed my parents was still at large though. The cops were taking too long. They needed a pro on the case, and I knew exactly who could do it. Batman.

"Batman?" laughed Aaron once hearing my idea. Aaron was the only sibling besides Mike that I trusted with anything. He then stopped laughing when he noticed the seriousness on my face. "But he's all the way in Gotham. Even if he does exist."

"Yah, but he's a detective. I'm sure he'd be able to help out with mom and dad's deaths," I stated.

"But how would you even get to talk to Batman?"

"There's a bat-signal thingy on top of Gotham P.D." I explained. "Maybe if I got Mike to drive me or something."

"Yah, but we need you here Dodge. You can run the store, plus you're good at calming Mark down when he's cranky." explained Aaron. He was right about that. I was needed. One day however, something changed my opinion.

Mike had to go out of town to apply for a college and Grandpa had to go to work. Since John and Luke had to serve out some Saturday school (they're troublesome) guess who was my babysitter? Chris. He beat me up something fierce, and would yell at me.

"Nobody wants you around anymore Shelly! You're nothing but an extra mouth to feed! It's all your fault mom and dad died and now we're all suffering, but you think it's all a joke! Quit being a goof and get serious!" he screamed. That's when Aaron came in.

"Leave Dodge alone!" he exclaimed.

"Stay outta this shrimp!" Chris growled, punching me in the gut.

"But…"

"I said stay outta it!" Chris shouted at him. Aaron looked at me, and I nodded my head.

"Just go Aaron, you didn't see any of this," I stated calmly, then winced at another punch to the stomach.

"No!" he exclaimed, enraged at my pain. He started to punch Chris but was no match. A nine year old against a fifteen year old. Chris shoved Aaron to the ground.

"She's the reason mom and dad died, Aaron! It's all her fault, don't get in my way for trying to teach her a lesson," he growled, then went back to me, but Aaron wouldn't let up. He ran and punched him in the side, but this didn't hurt Chris in the slightest. If anything, it just annoyed him. Chris roughly slapped Aaron across the face, making him fall. I just wanted to be invisible. To blend into my surroundings and disappear. At the same time I was angry. Chris turned to me but his eyes were having problems focusing.

"Where're yo…" I quickly punched him in the face, and he fell down hard. Aaron looked up, recovering from his slap.

"What did you do to him?" he inquired.

"I punched him in the face," I answered truthfully.

"Then why isn't he getting up?" Aaron questioned. I could hear the fear in his voice.

"He's still breathing. I think I just knocked him out."

"You gotta get outta here! He'll hurt you until Grandpa gets home. Maybe even after. You just have to get outta here," he said worried.

"But where will I go?" I questioned.

"I don't know… Gotham! You could get Batman and try to solve mom and dad's murder," he explained.

"I'm just a kid! How am I suppose to get help to solve mom and dad's murder from Batman?" I questioned a bit scared.

"I don't know, but you gotta try," sighed Aaron. I nodded my head.

"I owe you guys that," I added. I grabbed my brown trench coat, a black bowler hat, and my purse. It was filled with twenty three dollars. Aaron quickly handed me some of his money, so I had thirty dollars total.

"Thank you, Aaron. I'll come back, and Mom and Dad's murderer will be found and brought in," I stated, and I saw him tearing up. "Hey, come on Aaron, you'll see me again. I'm gonna take the train to Gotham. I'll be okay. Now promise me that you'll stay safe and if Chris gives you a hard time, hide in the closet. It locks from the inside, and I have a stash of food inside it. I hide there a lot," I explained with a slight smile.

"I love you Dodge. Please be safe," he said, hugging me.

"I'll try. Tell Mike and the others I love them. Even Chris. He's just mad because… just tell them I love them," I sighed, and Aaron nodded his head. I sprinted out of the house and towards the train.

** i hope you enjoyed! please tell me what you think :D**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**


	3. Chapter 3

**next chapter! please enjoy and tell me whatcha think :D**

**L.L.A.P**

**~Laces**

Chpt.3

The train ride to Gotham was painstakingly boring. I just sat there, watching as the scenery around me rushed by. My mind was thinking what I would do once I got to Gotham. I had no family there and not a lot of money, so chances of me finding a place to stay was slim to none. Then there was the issue of getting on the GPD roof and shining the Bat-signal in the sky without the cops finding out. After that there would be the moment of truth whether Batman was a myth or an actual person. Then after _that_ I would have to find out if Batman was going to help me find my parents' murderer. Obviously I had a lot on my hands.

"Excuse me sir?" I inquired to a man walking by. "Do you know when the train will get to Gotham?" he smiled and answered,

"About thirty more minutes."

"Thank you," I grinned and he walked away. As I sat in my seat, trying to plot how I was going to make my plan work, I couldn't help but feel a tad uneasy. It felt like I was being watched.

"Please tell me I'm just being paranoid," I whispered to myself. "I'll turn around and see no one staring at me or anything." I turned around to look behind me. I could see a familiar face staring at me, and once I turned around he smiled. It was the man who I met in my parents' shop. The one who had the gun! "Crap. Crap. Crap." I muttered to myself. _What the heck am I gonna do… what the heck is he gonna do? Since he's staring and smiling at me he clearly knows who I am. _Then something scary happened. He walked over and sat next to me.

"Hello… what's your name? Shelly right?" he questioned. I glared at him.

"I prefer Dodge." I growled. He chuckled. _I wish that the cops were asking me questions about what the guy looks like now. I got a perfect image right in front of me! _"Now that you know my name, what's yours?" this statement made him laugh.

"How stupid do you think I am?"

"Since I personally don't know you I'd have to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you're probably smarter than you look. I'm thinking you're an idiot. Smarter then a moron or imbecile, but not quite at the smart level yet."

"You're a rude little girl. If I were you I'd learn some manners."

"Considering the state of health my parents are in and how you made it that way, I'm surprised that my behavior surprises you. Oh wait. No. I'm not surprised. You're and idiot after all." His eyebrows furrowed over his eyes to glare at me.

"You figured it out."

"Yah, it wasn't that difficult genius. Now answer me this. Why? Why'd you do it?" I questioned.

"Not me personally. It's my boss." he stated.

"Your boss. Does this guy have a name?" I questioned.

"Yup. The Penguin. The reason why I'm heading to Gotham." he explained. I gave him a questioning look.

"Why did the Penguin want my parents' dead?"

"Beats me," he shrugged.

"So where is he now?" My parents' murderer opened up his jacket to show me his gun.

"You'll find out. You apparently intrigue him. Why is beyond my concern or my care. However, orders are that if you make any sudden movements or scream for help, your folks won't be the only ones in your family shot," he hissed, then added, "If he didn't need you and I told you all of that information you'd be dead now."

"I thought you were just being stupid," I sighed. He gave me a glare and I was quick to change the subject. "So you were stalking me?"

"Yup. You made it easy since you were headed to Gotham. Why were you headed there anyway?"

"Just because you have a gun pointed at me doesn't me I'm gonna tell you everything." He smirked at my response. "You're a strange twelve year old."

"Yup." I stated. I sat there calmly, waiting for the train to stop at Gotham. I stayed still and calm while in my mind I was in full panic mode. _How the heck am I gonna get out of this one! My plan never involved me talking to my parents murderer and getting a gun pointed at me! _


End file.
